How to Apply

The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage (the Center) makes panel-adjudicated grants in support of the Philadelphia region’s cultural organizations and artists.

At the Center, we envision Greater Philadelphia as a widely recognized hub for dynamic, distinctive, and inclusive cultural experiences. 

The Center is dedicated to fostering a thriving cultural ecology.

We invest in substantive work that showcases our region’s artistic vitality and enhances public life.

The projects we support grow directly out of mission and demonstrate excellence, care, and conceptual rigor. Funded projects reflect our grantees’ commitment to multiple perspectives, inclusive practices, and meaningful engagement with multicultural audiences.

We also engage in a robust exchange of ideas on evolving artistic and interpretive practices with a local, national, and international network of creators and cultural leaders.

These exchanges provide inspiration for cultural practice in our region and beyond and help the Center and its constituents to build new relationships and audiences.

Organizations applying independently (without a fiscal sponsor) must—

• Have a minimum annual budget of $150,000.
• Primarily serve public audiences. (The Center does not fund K–12 educational programming, curricula at any academic level, projects primarily rooted in education, or projects where the primary audiences are students and educators.)
• Have adequate, paid, professional, artistic/curatorial and managerial staff to realize the project.
• Have a demonstrated record of presenting professional public programs in the genre or content area identified in the grant proposal.
• Provide three years of financial audits/reviews to determine financial eligibility for funding.
• Not have an open grant in the project-funding area from which they seek funding in the 2025 cycle.

Organizations that are fiscally sponsored must—

• Have a minimum annual budget of $150,000, separate from the budget of their fiscal sponsor.
• Offer year-round programming. (The Center does not fund organizations that primarily present one-time annual programs, events, or festivals.)
• Primarily serve public audiences. (The Center does not fund K–12 educational programming, curricula at any academic level, projects primarily rooted in education, or projects where the primary audiences are students and educators.)
• Have adequate paid, professional, artistic/curatorial/managerial staff to realize the project.
• Have a demonstrated record of presenting professional public programs in the genre or content area identified in the grant proposal.
• Have a fiscal sponsor that has a demonstrable record of arts and culture sponsorship.
• Have an established agreement with their fiscal sponsor in place at the time that the Letter of Intent to Apply (LOI) is submitted.

*Applicants may choose between Creative Project grants and Evolving Futures grants but can only apply for one grant in the 2025 cycle. 

All prospective applicants must Submit an Inquiry to indicate they are interested in applying for a grant in 2025 and to help determine their eligibility.

Center staff are happy to meet informally prior to April 1 with eligible Creative Project applicants who have submitted the inquiry form. Any meetings required as part of the application process must follow release of the guidelines. For questions or meeting requests, please write to apply@pewcenterarts.org.

Capacity Building funds are available in 2025 for applicants.

>>Read more about our Capacity Building opportunities.

Organizations must—

• Have received a project grant in Performance or Exhibitions & Public Intepretation from The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage between 2014–2024.
• Have a 501(c)(3) designation and be located in the five-county Philadelphia region of Pennsylvania (Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, or Philadelphia county)
• Have the presentation of art or public history programs as their primary mission.
• Have a minimum annual budget of $150,000.
• Primarily serve public audiences. (The Center does not fund K–12 educational programming, curricula at any academic level, projects primarily rooted in education, or projects where the primary audiences are students and educators.)
• Have adequate, paid, professional, artistic/curatorial and managerial staff to realize the project.
• Have a demonstrated record of presenting professional public programs in the genre or content area identified in the grant proposal.
• Provide three years of financial audits/reviews to determine financial eligibility for funding.
• Not have an existing Evolving Futures grant that is open in 2025.

*Applicants may choose between Creative Project grants and Evolving Futures grants but can only apply for one grant in the 2025 cycle.

All prospective applicants must Submit an Inquiry to indicate they are interested in applying for a grant in 2025 and to help determine their eligibility.

Meetings with Center staff to discuss Evolving Futures projects will begin in mid-April.

Capacity Building funds are available in 2025 for applicants. 

>>Read more about our Capacity Building opportunities.

• Research and Travel grants ranging from $2,500–$7,500 to help organizations develop and deepen their professional and programmatic capacities in contemporary art and public history. Grants will be made to support exploratory phases of curatorial work that may lead to future Center funding, as well as travel to consult with potential collaborators
• Technical Assistance grants, up to $7,500, to assist organizations with managing and completing the Center’s application process. These grants will be offered to organizations that are invited to apply in late spring/early summer 2025.

Priority will be given to applicants with operating budgets under $500k, those with no dedicated development staff, and to first-time applicants. Funds are limited and will be awarded on a rolling basis for use before October 2025.

Read our Capacity Building grant guidelines for information on how to apply and who is eligible:

Applicants must—

• Be nominated, as described by the Fellowships Application Guidelines.
• Be residents of the five-county Philadelphia area (Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, or Philadelphia County).
• Be at least two years out of school or have equivalent career experience.
• Not be a full- or part-time student.
• Not be an employee of The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage or The Pew Charitable Trusts, a member of an employee’s household, or closely related to an employee.
• Not be a previous Pew Fellowship in the Arts recipient.

The 2025 Application Guidelines will be posted here on April 1, 2025. Feel free to read last year’s guidelines, posted for reference only.